My Ford!

"Oh wonder,
how many goodly creatures are there here,
how beautious mankind is,
O brave new world,
That has such people in't!"

Aldos Huxley's novel, A Brave New World stunned me. It has easily cracked my top ten favourite books of all time and I am in amazement as to how I missed out on reading this book for so many years even though it was offered as a choice to me throughout my highschool classes.

This book is, in short, a scathing evaluation of technological progress and most of all, capitalism. Huxley creates a vivid world that captured my imagination as I kept re-reading his words to find some flaw, some exaggeration to his tale - yet even as i knew he was writing of years that have not yet passed and times that have not yet been seen, his words rung true. Huxley has the uncanny ability to not only construct but also to deconstruct at the same time. He builds a world for you , all the time telling you of its flaws by explaining it in detail, showing what is wrong with its core just as he touts its depths.

The use of scientific knowledge, literary references and raw human emotion make this book memorable. It is poignant. It is funny. It is even ridiculous at times. It does make the reader think and once or twice, I even felt ashamed at the characters' lack of 'civility' and even their sexuality. Huxley constructs his futuristic society with an excellent command over science, he juxtaposes this world with the world of the Savage using Shakespeare all the while evaluating emotion, concepts like happiness, solitude, religion, and the contentment we feel for things around us.

Huxley's writing is poignant and has left this reader feeling that the praise he has bestowed upon other novels in the past few weeks is pale in comaprison to that which must be reserved for this classic, enduring novel. I will surely read this book again in the coming year, as it definitely holds some secrets that I have not yet discovered. Highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyed.